Crystal Sounds
by Isaya831
Summary: To save the world from a mysterious darkness the gang must collect shards of a powerful crystal. Unfortanatly Kaiba's only person who can detect the location of the crystal shards, and he's experiencing a few difficulties. abandon.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

_Darkness…_

_What is dark? What is light?_

_If someone's dark does that make them evil? If they're light does that make them good?_

_In a battle between two evils, which one ought to win? Does being the lesser evil make it good even though it's an evil before being compared?_

_And what is evil? What defines good and bad in the first place?_

Kaiba looked over what he'd typed onto his laptop again and again. How odd of him to even think of something like that.

He looked over at the clock. He'd gotten up early. Soon his alarm would go of, assuming that he'd set it the previous night. He didn't bother to keep track of whether or not it was on anymore.

He went back to typing, making sure first to set the laptop to have a little message pop up when he needed to get ready for school. Only 37 minutes until he could go to a building full of morons and pretend he was paying attention to what the teacher said. He already knew all the subjects inside and out thanks to his step father. Why did he even bother to go?

_Darkness…_

_What is dark? What is light?_

_If someone's dark does that make them evil? If they're light does that make them good?_

_In a battle between two evils, which one ought to win? Does being the lesser evil make it good even though it's an evil before being compared?_

_And what is evil? What defines good and bad in the first place? Fear. Greed. That's what defines it. People would not be against death if they were afraid of what came after life. People would not be against theft if they weren't greedy, hoarding their possessions. Though if greed didn't exist who would bother to steal anyways?_

_Is Human the dominate species? The best thing for earth? Before man came along animals survived in an untainted planet. They fought and species went extinct on there own, but man does nothing but speed that up. How many endangered or extinct species would have survived and been plentiful if man had never evolved into this world?_

Kaiba sat back and thought about what he'd just typed until the little message he'd programmed popped up to let him know to get ready for school. He turned the portable computer of and got up to get ready.

OOOOO

"Oh, great. What are you doing here, moneybags?" Tristan and Yugi rolled their eyes. Joey was obviously looking for a fight after failing a test that the teacher had complimented Kaiba allowed on for his high score on "I'm talking to you!"

Kaiba didn't even look over at Joey, instead he just took things out of his locker and into his bag, getting ready to leave. How odd. They'd left Kaiba alone the past couple weeks and noticed his behavior had changed drastically.

He barely responded to them, in fact, he didn't even seem to notice them most of the time like right then with Joey. He hadn't argued back the one time he had acknowledged Joey speaking to him. And weirdest of all he hadn't challenged Yugi in any way. Add this to the fact that in the weeks they'd left him alone he'd done nothing public involving duel monsters and the whole thing was pretty suspicious.

"HEY! WHERE ARE YOU GOING! I'M TALKING TO YOU!" Joey screamed as Kaiba walked off at his own pace. Not looking back to even call Joey a single name. How odd indeed.

OOOOO

"I don't know" Yugi sat down on his bed unpacking his school things. Pharaoh was in spiritual form next to him "It seems weird though. I've never known Kaiba to act that way"

"But we don't know him very well" Pharaoh pointed out "We've dueled him enough that we know his strategy, but how much do we know about **him**?"

"We know he's an orphan. His hobby. What he does for a living…"

"And that's it. A vague description of his background, that he likes to play card games (or any game really), and the common knowledge that he's a CEO. Do you know who he likes? His opinions on major issues? Minor issues?"

Yugi shook his head

"It's probably nothing. Kaiba most likely is just to busy with the finishing touches on his latest tournament or with something in his company to pay much attention to Joey"

"I still don't like it…"


	2. Chapter 2

**I forgot my little disclaimer thingy last chapter**

**Don't own Yugioh**

**Don't use the same names for characters as everyone else. If you get confused, check out my profile.**

**Chapter 2**

It was late. Kaiba checked the clock by his bed. Almost midnight. He couldn't sleep. He got out of bed and got dressed quickly. If he had to guess, all the servants would be asleep now. He couldn't hear anyone up, but that wasn't saying much and he wasn't sure how much noise it would take to wake them up. He did his best to sneak out quietly.

Within the past few weeks it had become a concern of anyone close to him or Mokuba that he shouldn't go outside alone, especially at night. This infuriated Kaiba. How dare they treat him like he was helpless. He had yet to encounter problem alone like this.

But the again, there's a first for everything…

OOOOO

Yugi quietly closed the door to the shop so he wouldn't wake his grandfather or mother when he left. "Yugi" Pharaoh said, in spiritual form behind him "I don't think this is safe, I have a bad feeling about tonight"

"You're just paranoid" Yugi replied, starting off down the street.

"I don't think so…" Pharaoh trailed off, looking behind him as he followed after his partner. Yugi may be dismissing his concerns, but he could sense his host paranoia as well. Except Yugi couldn't take his mind of Kaiba. Pharaoh would admit that Kaiba had acted different than usual but there were millions of things that could be causing that and most that he could think of weren't to serious.

"Kaiba!" Pharaoh rolled his eyes at first, then saw what had gotten his partner to say that. Across the street **was** Kaiba "Kaiba over here!" Kaiba didn't look. Instead all his attention seemed to be focused on a dim light in the distance.

Without warning Kaiba took off. Yugi ran across the street and after the CEO, but he was falling behind, they'd never seen him run before and the tiny boy didn't have a chance of catching up with the much taller burnet.

Eventually, out of breath, Yugi caught up to Kaiba, who'd stopped in one of the most random spots to inspect the ground, coincidentally this was the same spot the glow had been at a few minutes ago. Something small glittered in his hand as he stood up. It wasn't until then that he noticed he had company "Yugi?"

"Kaiba, what are you doing?"

Kaiba seemed to not know how to answer this. In the end he handed Yugi the small glittering object and stepped back.

Yugi looked at it confused and was about to speak up when Pharaoh distracted him "WHAT'S THAT!?" He pointed above Yugi's head. Both Yugi and Kaiba looked up to see a large 'UFO' like object above them.

Upon being spotted that object vanished into thin air "Kaiba, do you have any clue what that was?"

Kaiba showed no signs that he'd even heard Yugi.

A few seconds later the object reappeared. This time men jumped out of it "They saw us" one whispered.

"What do we do?"

"Eliminate them"

A sense of dread filled the two boys as the men got closer. Pharaoh was preparing to take over Yugi when said host tossed the shiny object. Whether either he or Kaiba meant for the taller boy to catch it Pharaoh would never know, but Kaiba caught it.

He stared blankly at the object for a few seconds before looking back at the men who'd advanced quite a bit, then stopped. Yugi poked his shoulder, he looked down at the boy "They're whispering to each other now. I can't hear them, what are they saying?"

Kaiba looked back at the men, watching them for a minute before looking at Yugi "They're planning to hold us hostage. Apparently seeing them leaves them at a huge risk"

Yugi nodded and in a flash Pharaoh had taken over "Alright, you scum. I've had enough of this" The eye on his forehead glowed. He pointed at the men "PENALTY GAME!" Kaiba winced as the shiny object started to burn his hand.

Nothing happened. They laughed "That's wont work, little boy. Send all the darkness at us you want. We don't care. We're hungry, we could use the meal. Feed us your energy. We'll throw it right back at you"

Pharaoh's eyes (his normal ones) widened in horror. His shadow magic didn't work on them?

Kaiba was closer to the strange men, as Yugi was the only one who'd backed away earlier. They suddenly sprang at him. Kaiba flinched and held up his left hand, the empty one, in front of him in a pathetic attempt to defend himself. The small object in his right hand flashed brightly, emanating a brilliant white light before going completely dark. Before Kaiba had a chance to inspect this, the same light came out of his left hand in a focused beam, shooting down one of the men before vanishing.

The other men looked at each other unsure before retreating back to their UFO like machine and vanishing from sight.

Pharaoh came up to Kaiba "What was that?" Yugi formed in spiritual form next to him. Kaiba didn't respond. Instead he looked at his right hand the small object was gone. He'd assumed it had only been the shard of a cheep fake crystal anyway. It was only the light it reflected that didn't seem to be present anywhere else that had interested him in the first place. But now it was gone, and in it's place was an elaborate marking covering the entire palm of his right hand.

He looked at Pharaoh, hoping for an explanation. Before the spirit of the puzzle could come up with any words to say, however, Kaiba passed out.

OOOOO

Kaiba opened his eyes slowly. Aside from a splitting headache he seemed to be unharmed. He sat up and looked at his right hand again. The mark was still there, but it wasn't obvious now, it almost blended in with his skin.

It wasn't until he confirmed this that he inspected his surroundings. He was back in his bedroom. Yugi must have brought him home after he collapsed. Mokuba and his favorite maid were talking near by. She was one of the few people who knew. One of the few who had reason to worry about him being out at that time.

Eventually she left and Mokuba came over to him 'Are you okay?' Kaiba nodded in response to Mokuba's question 'This is why you can't go out alone. Wha if Yugi hadn't found you?'

"I'm not a kid, Mokuba. Last time I checked I was actually you're guardian. I would have been just fine if Yugi wasn't there" That was a lie. He never would have noticed those men, but then maybe they wouldn't have bothered him.

'If Yugi weren't there and you did handle them the way you did we'd have had to send a search party out for you when we realized you were missing'

Kaiba rolled his eyes "You worry to much. I'm doing just fine. Now if you don't mind I need to get to school"

'I've already alerted the body guards. You're under house arrest today'

Kaiba swore and rolled over in bed. Refusing to look at his younger brother anymore.

OOOOO

"That is weird…" Bakura trailed of for a second "But I don't know anything about it. I can ask Yami if-"

"Never mind" Pharaoh refused to get help from the spirit inside Bakura's ring "I'll call up a meeting with Pegasus. He's the most informed on these sorts of things. It'll take a little while though. With his tournament in China I bet he's busy"

"Well, in that case, I might have a few books about it" Bakura looked at Pharaoh's drawing again. A sketch based on memory of the symbol on Kaiba's hand "I probably have more occult books than Pegasus has ideas for cards"

"Good, because someone outside our group may be in danger. If Kaiba's in any serious harm we need to know"

Bakura didn't seem to hear, to busy staring at the symbol "You said it was a bright light, right? Anything else?"

"Well… he had this… crystal thing. It had been glowing and he must have been curious because he tracked it down and picked it up. But it was gone after that light… now that I think about it, there was a light from the crystal before there was one from Kaiba"

Bakura nodded "Thanks, that narrows down my search a lot. I'll let you know if I find anything"

Pharaoh nodded and waved to Bakura as he got his things together and left. Bakura may have been a pain to save, and putting up with Yami was an even bigger pain, but every now and then it really paid off to have such an occultish friend.

**Isaya831: And thus ends the second chapter of 'Crystal Sounds'**

**Kaiba: **_**reading the plot**_** OHMYFUCKINGGOD! You can ****not**** do that to me**

**Isaya831: To late, already have**

**Bakura: Can I see?**

**Isaya831: **_**takes plot from Kaiba and gives it to Bakura **_**here you go**

**Bakura: **_**reads plot**_** Oh, now that's just mean!**

**Isaya831: Hey, at least I'm not killing people off… yet…**

**Kaiba: I'd rather be dead than-**

**Isaya831: **_**hits Kaiba with a frying pan**_

**Kaiba: **_**looses consiousness**_

**Isaya831: Bad Kaiba. NO revealing the plot.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Yugi looked over at Kaiba's empty seat, then to Bakura's. The white haired teen was taking a **huge** risk in not showing up to look through his occult books. Especially since his father was home for the month, making anything the boy did a huge risk. In order to make up for his absence Bakura's father was overly protective when he was around.

"Mr Motou, pay attention" the teacher scolded. But Yugi couldn't pay attention. Something was wrong with Kaiba, really wrong if that symbol on his palm was something bad. How could he pay attention to anything?

OOOOO

_Darkness…_

_What is dark? What is light?_

_If someone's dark does that make them evil? If they're light does that make them good?_

_In a battle between two evils, which one ought to win? Does being the lesser evil make it good even though it's an evil before being compared?_

_And what is evil? What defines good and bad in the first place? Fear. Greed. That's what defines it. People would not be against death if they were afraid of what came after life. People would not be against theft if they weren't greedy, hoarding their possessions. Though if greed didn't exist who would bother to steal anyways?_

_Is Human the dominate species? The best thing for earth? Before man came along animals survived in an untainted planet. They fought and species went extinct on there own, but man does nothing but speed that up. How many endangered or extinct species would have survived and been plentiful if man had never evolved into this world?_

_The dinosaurs went extinct on their own, but what about the gray wolves? They're an endangered species because of humans._

_Humans killed the wolves because the creatures threatened their lives and the lives of the animals they raised. Was it right to kill the wolves? Animals lived that way for thousands of years. Why couldn't we. Why couldn't we let the wolves take a few sheep or pigs or whatever else so they'd leave. Those animals would have been killed by man anyway. Did the wolves deserve to be killed? They killed humans and animals for food the same way we slaughter pigs, chickens, cows, and sheep for meat._

_How would humans like it if the sheep started killing us? Hunting us to near extinction to save themselves?_

Kaiba was distracted from his typing when Mokuba threw a piece of bread at him. He looked at his little brother annoyed "I stayed in bed all day like you wanted. What's wrong now?"

'You should still be resting'

Kaiba snorted and went turned back to his laptop. Unfortunately, before he could type anything Mokuba threw the rest of the loaf of bread at him. Too much to see the screen. Mokuba wasn't going to leave him alone just yet.

He looked back at his brother 'What are you doing anyway?'

"Nothing" Mokuba didn't believe him, his expression showed it "Nothing related to school or work. I'm just playing a computer game"

'Well' Mokuba didn't say anything else for a few second 'I guess that's okay. But I'm going to go unplug the internet cable anyways, just incase' He turned and ran off to do just that.

Kaiba growled and actually did pull up a video game. It was a nice escape from reality, and in the past few weeks reality had really sucked. Since when was Mokuba the one who acted overly protective anyways?

OOOOO

Pharaoh was actually amazed that Bakura had slipped away from his father twice in one day. He was pleased to see the boy, it meant he must have found something. He wasn't pleased to see Yami with him.

"He helped me sneak out" Bakura explained before Pharaoh could say anything "Anyway, I think I found the perfect book for your mark" first he handed Pharaoh the drawing he'd been given earlier, then he pulled out an old book with a leather cover. Seared on the front like a symbol on a cow from a cattle prod was the exact same mark that had been on Kaiba's hand "This is it, right?"

"Yes!" Pharaoh eagerly took the book.

"I looked through it before coming. Just skimmed really" Bakura explained "It's about some sort of 'crystal of light' and a dark prophesy. Whoever made that must have been pretty serious about the whole thing because it's what the whole book is about" he paused "Actually, the owner of the book store I got it from said there aren't many copies of the book. I figured it was just one of those things people say to make you buy their merchandise, but I really haven't seen it anywhere else so please be careful with it"

Pharaoh was a little curious as to what book store Bakura went to, but said nothing, flipping through the book instead. To his disappointment most of it was written with European characters, if Bakura could read it then that probably meant it was in English. He studied the pictures though

"A crystal of light, you say?" Yugi asked. Bakura nodded. Pharaoh looked over at Yugi, wondering what his partner was getting at "Kaiba picked up a shard of something before that mark appeared on his hand. It wouldn't have been the whole crystal though, it was way too small. Still, the way it glittered it would seem likely"

"Well, unless you'd like to sit and translate this for me" Pharaoh glanced at Bakura "Then I don't have much to go buy. If your to busy I'm sure Tea would be glad to help though"

"No. I'm glad to have my father home, but he gets to be too much to fast. I can stay and translate. I'll tell him I'm sleeping over with Joey"

Pharaoh nodded. He didn't get why, but Joey was the only person Bakura's father trusted. Odd, considering of Bakura's four close friends (and pharaoh, who wasn't included in the parent's knowledge) Joey and his house were the least safe.

"Lets get started" Bakura giggled and took the book back, running into Yugi's house. Yami rolled his eyes before vanishing. Pharaoh and Yugi followed after the borderline albino.

OOOOO

'Master Kaiba, you're up. Mokuba won't be pleased'

Kaiba rolled his eyes as he made his way down the hall "Mokuba forgets I'm **his** guardian"

The maid, Kimiko, ran up to him and stopped him so as to continue the conversation 'But Mokuba's right to worry about you. On top of your condition you collapsed in the middle of the streets last night! Who knows what could have happened to you. And the risk in going out at night alone in the first place' she trailed off. Kaiba walked around her and continued to make his way down the hall. He didn't let her catch up again. She was Mokuba's friend, not his.

**Isaya831: Well, the plots kind of started, but not to the point where it's a full blown adventure yet**

**And so…**

**Bakura: We're holding a competition to see which thing Isaya's done to the main characters in her stories is cruelest**

**Isaya831: Call 'em my victims. That's what I say, and it's shorter.**

**Bakura: O.o**

**Pharaoh: HEY EVERYONE, THE CONTEST IS STARTING, ANYONE NOT ENTERED WILL HAVE TO WAIT FOR THE NEXT CONTEST**

**Joey: DARN!**

**Pharaoh: Entry number one is Seto Kaiba, who, in the story 'Life Swap' had to go all but a chapter and a half in Joey's body**

**Pharaoh: Entry number two is Yami No Bakura, who was changed into an infant at the starts of 'Wyou'**

**Pharaoh: Entry number three is Seto Kaiba again, for his disability in this story**

**Pharaoh: The final entry is Akefia, who was turned into an angel and forced to serve me in my former life in 'Angel Wings'**

**Isaya831: And the scores are…**

**Entry 1- 3, 3, 2**

**Entry 2- 6, 9, 9**

**Entry 3- 9, 8, 2**

**Entry 4- 7, 9, 5**

**Bakura: Judge three always gave Kaiba twos. **

**Isaya831: WHO WAS JUDGE THREE?!**

**Joey: **_**runs away**_

**Isaya831: okay…**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"Visitors?" Kimiko nodded "I'll go see them" Mokuba jumped down from his seat and ran to the front door, quite a distance actually, considering the size of the house.

Yugi, Joey, Tea, and Bakura were in the entry way. Mokuba didn't ask where Tristan was. He had no personality anyway. "What are you doing here"

"We came to check up on Kaiba" Yugi said as Kimiko caught up to Mokuba "I brought him back last night, remember. I was worried when he didn't show up at school today" Bakura wondered why Yugi didn't mention the **other** reason, but figured if he didn't say it he didn't want it to be said and kept quiet.

"Kaiba's in bed, I'll take you to him"

"Mokuba," Kimiko said softly "Master Kaiba left his room almost two hours ago. I don't know where exactly he is now, but he's still somewhere in the mansion"

"WHAT?!" Joey was a little amused by how upset Mokuba looked "BUT HE-AGH!" Mokuba stomped off.

A small grin found its way onto Kimiko's face "It's a little cute" she said to the four visitors, though she didn't look at them "Normally Mokuba is much less obvious about the ways he cares for Kaiba, while Kaiba makes it plain as day that he worries about Mokuba's welfare. Now Mokuba spends day and night being overly protective of his older brother and Master Kaiba doesn't even get a chance to worry about Mokuba" She hurried off after the little raven haired boy.

Yugi, Bakura, and Tea exchanged glances. Joey had gone off to who knows where to cause trouble while he had the chance.

OOOOO

"SETO!" Kaiba didn't look at Mokuba when his name was screamed. Taking a deep breath Mokuba entered the room Kaiba was in. This was the room where Kaiba made all his inventions, and he was in the middle of working on one. Mokuba yanked the machine from his brother's hands, which earned him an ignored death glare "You need to be in bed"

"Last time I checked you were the little kid, not me"

"Last time I checked you were the one who collapsed for who knows what reason"

"Weren't you going to work on your school project? How'd you know I left my room?"

"Kimiko told me"

"Why?"

"Because…" Mokuba trailed off, remembering the visitors he left at the door. Seeing his brother's confused look he quickly continued "Some people came to see you"

"Really? Well they can wait, thanks to you I'm behind on my work"

"They had to wait the whole time I was looking for you. Go see them. They're at the entryway"

Kaiba sighed and stood up, taking his machine back and setting it high up before he left the room. Mokuba considered wrecking the technology in the room as he was left alone. He wouldn't get caught, until his brother finished talking to Yugi, but that would take a while…

OOOOO

Kaiba's eye twitched with annoyance as he saw who his visitors were. To late to turn around, they'd spotted him. He came downstairs slowly. He **really** didn't want to talk to them. So many people at once too. What if they found out?

He didn't smile at them as he came up. They hadn't spoken yet that he could tell but that was about to change. He considered ignoring everyone but Yugi on purpose so it would look less suspicious if he accidentally ignored them, but that didn't seem like a good idea. If Yugi was here that meant Joey was **somewhere** near by. He concluded to ignore Joey if he came back as well as the burnet girl and focus on Yugi and the white haired boy he couldn't quite remember the name off.

'Are you feeling better?' Yugi asked 'You didn't come to school today'

"I don't come to school a lot of days"

'But normally that's because you're busy. You passed out last night. I was worried'

"Well you shouldn't have been. Clearly, I'm just fine"

'Mokuba didn't seem to think so'

"Mokuba's come to only think of negative possibilities recently"

Yugi and the white haired boy exchanged glances 'Tea, why don't you go find Joey' Kaiba didn't bother to find out was Tea's answer was, but it must have been along the lines of okay because she ran off. Yugi looked back at Kaiba 'We need to talk about something else too. That mark on your hand'

Kaiba's eyes narrowed "What about it?"

'Well, Bakura has a lot of books on magic, and he found one about it' the white haired boy-Bakura held up a leather book with the mark on its cover '-a crystal'

Kaiba mentally swore. He'd been distracted by the markings on the book and missed whatever it was Yugi had said "I take it this is more of your magic nonsense?"

'Magic is real' Yugi protested 'and after last night even you can't deny that' He looked at Bakura 'Maybe we should just leave it here for him'

'Sure' Bakura looked around and set the book down on a small table a little distance from the door 'He can read it, right?'

'He should be able too. I remember being told he was taught a bunch of languages for business stuff'

'But then maybe he only knows business terms'

'I'm pretty sure he has to understand basics of the language, at least'

Kaiba lost interest in following the conversation and turned to leave. Yugi and Bakura might have told him to come back, but even if he'd listened to what they had to say he wouldn't do it. It was all just nonsense.

OOOOO

Kaiba sat on the couch pretending to pay attention to Mokuba's latest lecture. Mokuba realized he wasn't following the conversation when his brother turned away and picked up a leather book that he didn't remember being there before "Seto!" he knew Kaiba wouldn't look up at him though.

Kaiba opened the book and began to read various bits of information in it. It was old. Written during the early colonization of the North America, back when it was still part of Brittan by a man who learned to communicate with various Indian tribes.

He narrowed his eyes as he continues to read. Mokuba was poking him trying to get his attention. He ignored it and read what the book had to say. It seemed a lot like yin and yang at first. Talking about a crystal of light and a crystal of dark, but as he got further in it strayed from that idea. It began to seem more like a tribal legend that their people mistook for history. Someone stole the two crystals, but preferred the dark, and the crystal corrupt them. The person hid the two in a far off land and returned to be murdered by the tribe for his treachery.

The legend ended with the man's death but the book continued on for some time, describing the powers of the crystals. Theories from various occult nerds on what might have happened to them and where they may be. Eventually he came to a page with a bookmark in it of the change of heart card. The theory on this page must have been the one Yugi's friend agreed with.

It was about various people finding the crystals over the ages. The final one was in England almost a hundred years ago where some mentally unwell person was corrupt by the crystal and realized what had happened. Frightened he'd used their powers to break both crystals and then committed suicide. There were no theories on where the shards were. But there were theories on how the shards would be put back together. What there was on the next page was a description of both crystals. A blue gem that seemed to take could not reflect light, and a white gem that reflected light when there was none.

Kaiba snorted and shut the book. How could something written so long ago have anything in it from the future? It was possible that different parts of it had been written at different times, but he found it unlikely.

He left the room, Mokuba right behind him still seeking attention. To get some privacy he locked himself alone in his bedroom.

Sighing softly he sat down on his bed and stared at his right hand again. The mark was still practically invisible, but it was there and visible if you knew where to look. He clenched the hand into a fist as one of the theories on restoring the crystal passed through his head. Collecting in the body of whichever human found the shard that had been the crystal's core, then fusing within the body. It never mentioned how to remove the crystal though. It was all just nonsense anyways. It didn't concern him.

**Isaya831: Bleh. I hate writing prophesies like that. They always seem so… corny…**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Delete.

_What makes people different? Why don't people simply overlook differences and work together?_

_On that note, considering I am who I am, what makes people have double standards, and why can't they accept that other people have flaws even when they have the same flaws?_

Delete. Kaiba scowled. He liked his old document better. He glanced at his right hand. Remembering the legend he began typing again.

_Why does dark symbolize evil while light symbolize good? Why is dark a sign of corruption while light is purity? _

_Wasn't the concept of yin and yang that both light and dark were equally as good?_

_Does light destroy the dark, or push it back?_

Mokuba yanking on his hair brought Kaiba back to earth. He glared at his little brother 'If you're going to school today you'd better get ready'

Kaiba nodded and turned off his laptop. He wasn't thrilled with the idea of school. There was less point in going now then ever. Still, it was time away from the mansion. Time away from a suddenly freakishly overly protective **younger** brother.

OOOOO

"Kaiba" Kaiba took no notice of Yugi "Kaiba"

"Don't bother, Yuge" Joey shot Kaiba a dirty glare "He wouldn't bother to listen to us if you announced your dating Mokuba, watch" he whispered. Turning to Kaiba, Joey said rather loudly "I'M DATING MOKUBA!"

A couple people gave him odd looks, then looked to Kaiba to see his reaction. Kaiba took a minute to realize everyone was watching him. He blinked at them before going back to what he was doing. The room erupted into a sea of murmurs. Kaiba didn't seem to notice.

"Kaiba" Tea came up and tapped him on the shoulder and he looked up at her "We're going to the arcades after school. Don't tell Joey, but could you come with us?"

"No" Kaiba didn't bother to narrow his eyes at her. He turned back to the book he was papers he was reading. Designed to look like status reports from his company, but actually the bits of the book Ryou had left behind that he'd found interesting. Translated into Japanese and copied in a single night. He'd been up late working on it, but he couldn't have someone else work on it without raising suspicion. After all, he didn't believe in magic.

OOOOO

"Bakura"

Bakura blinked and looked over to the person addressing him "Kaiba? What are you doing here?"

"Your book" Kaiba held out the nice leather book with his right hand.

As Bakura took it back he spotted the symbol on Kaiba's hand "Is that the mark? When did it appear?"

"That's-" Kaiba shoved his hand into his pocket "Ask Yugi. He was there"

There was an awkward moment of silence "I know you don't believe in magic, or anything implying that someone has control over you, but what did you think, I mean, with that mark on your palm? I marked the page with the legend I found most likely…"

"I…" Kaiba looked away for a second, then looked back "I don't know. Most of those legends were a load of crap" (like a bad fanfic) "you had to shift through a lot to find ones that seemed even remotely decent" (like looking for good fanfics (I'll stop now)) "The one you marked was probably the most decent of al of them…" He paused "You're not part of Yugi's inner circle, right? You're more of a distant friend"

Bakura narrowed his eyes slightly, not liking to be reminded that he wasn't close to anyone. "Yes. So?"

"Can you keep a secret?"

**Isaya831: Ah, Kaiba's secret circle expands. I'm ****planning**** to jump into the 'adventure' thing in the next chap.**

**Bakura: Ooooooh. So ****that's**** why Kaiba's so unresponsive**

**Kaiba: You tell, you die**

**Isaya831: I love this! Please review! (and sorry that this chapter was short)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Sooner or later he'd learn to wait patiently in his room on sleepless nights. Seto Kaiba figured this would be later. He didn't stop the mugging he watched, he did his best to sneak by silently. He'd seen the attacker had a friend hidden in the shadows. He may have had more Kaiba hadn't spotted. It didn't seem worth the risk to help a stranger. In spite of all his ignoring Mokuba, it was a huge risk for him.

Kaiba sighed once he was positive he was far enough from the mugger. Vaguely, he wondered what his life would be like if his parents hadn't died. Then if he'd been adopted by someone else (this had the most scenarios). Then if he hadn't been adopted at all. Finally he tried to imagine his life if the past couple months had been different.

After a while he noticed a faint burning feeling in his hand. Inspecting it he saw that cursed mark glowing again. Did it just glow in the dark or…

He looked around, after a moment he spotted Yugi watching him from a fairly good hiding spot "Yugi, I see you there, you can come out"

After a couple seconds Yugi realized it wasn't a bluff and came into the open 'You shouldn't be up this late'

"Neither should you. What are you doing up?"

'Watching you. I'm worried'

"Creepy. So now you're my personally stalker. I always knew you were weird but I never knew just how much"

Yugi narrowed his eyes, but just a little. Kaiba was surprised the midget even knew how to look angry 'Kaiba, this is serious. That mark on your hand is serious. It's always glowing. Someone will notice it if something isn't done'

"It only glows…" then it dawned on him "when **you're** around" Of course. The legend said the crystal had a dark counterpart. It must be able to sense dark energy, like the energy in the Millennium Puzzle. That's why it was glowing now, and why it had burned when Pharaoh had used shadow magic.

'Sure. You need to go back to the mansion'

"That's nice" Kaiba assumed saying 'make me' would sound too immature. He turned and started walking away, not caring if Yugi had anything more to say too him.

OOOOO

"We came as soon as we could"

"A pay phone? I didn't know this city still used them"

Yugi and Pharaoh exchanged glances at the chaos erupting in front of them as a heated debate started over (pathetically enough) the importance of pay phones.

"Guys" Yugi finally cut in "We're going to loose track of Kaiba!"

Everyone exchanged glances "**That's** why we got up in the middle of the night?" Joey asked

"According to what we know" Pharaoh took over the conversation "Kaiba has accidentally gotten himself deeply linked to our next journey. To ignore him would be a bad idea" Joey and Tristan muttered something but agreed. Tea simply shrugged "Bakura, what do you think?"

"It…" Bakura paused "Kaiba wouldn't be to happy if he knew we were all following him, but I think it's a good idea" He inwardly grimaced as he realized how mad Kaiba would be if he, in particular, was caught trailing the CEO. Maybe knowing Kaiba's big secret **wasn't** a good thing.

As everyone split up to keep an eye on Kaiba from different angles, and to keep from all being spotted at once, Bakura felt a little bad for Mokuba. The little kid must have worried constantly about his older brother and he was about to experience the sort of 'thank you' the boy got for that.

As he watched Kaiba he noticed the mark glowing faintly. It flashed for a second as Yami came out then returned to a dull glow. Kaiba looked around but didn't spot anything. After a moment he continued his walk.

"What'cha doin'?" Yami whispered into Bakura's ear

"Spying on Kaiba. Go away"

"Some thanks for helping you get around your dad again" Yami hissed quite a bit louder

"Quite down!"

"Why? S'not like-" Bakura cupped a hand over the spirits mouth. Yami bit the hand and Bakura moved it away "Why **are** you following him?"

Bakura could see Pharaoh glaring at them from his hiding spot, but Yami had a point. A point that only the two of them knew out of everyone in the group "Look, just because Kaiba doesn't respond to a lot of things doesn't mean we can be careless. He knew something was up when you appeared, right?"

"You're not answering me"

"Okay. Pharaoh thinks we need to track him because of that mark on his hand"

"Oh, that" Yami snickered and hovered just above Bakura "And what would Kaiba say if he knew? Don't forget, now that you know his secret, so do I. I know how to make him notice I'm talking to him. I could just ask for his opinion easily"

"Don't!" Bakura leapt out of his hiding place and pulled Yami back in as the spirit tried to go to Kaiba "Don't you dare. You're just a spirit, but he'll murder me!"

"Then don't leave your hiding place so you wont be caught" Yami replied smugly before returning to the ring. Bakura considered, not for the first time, finding a way to get an exorcist to remove the spirit.

The mark seemed to glow stronger as Yami left. Bakura realized it must have somehow been picking up on the millennium items and reacting to them. If Yami popped out again he'd be caught for sure.

Sensing this from inside the ring, Yami chose to come out again.

This time Kaiba chose, rather than to stop and look around again, to run as fast as he could. He wasn't stupid. He knew Yugi was watching. If he couldn't find 'the dweebs' he'd just make it so they couldn't find them. He didn't stop until the warmth from the mark on his hand had completely faded.

He'd slowed down and looked around. His mad dash seemed to have taken him to the pier. He was to busy thinking about the duel between Joey and Yugi he'd witnessed to notice a dark hand rise up from the water. His only warning was a sudden explosion of fiery pain from his mark before he was pulled beneath the surface of the water.

**Isaya831: Mwahahahaha**

**Yami: She creeps me out when she laughs like that…**

**Bakura: Any guesses on which character she's about to do something either bizarre or awful to (or both)?**

**Yugi: Pharaoh, maybe? She doesn't like him**

**Pharaoh: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

**Yami: Calm down. So far the only person she's actually messed with in this story is Kaiba. She's just waiting forever to let the readers know what that is**

**Isaya831: And on that topic… **_**to readers**_** You're more than welcome to guess at what's wrong with Kaiba.**


	7. Chapter 7

**S'a little late, but I'm now officially replying to reviews**

**The Duelist's Heiress**-No, he's not delusional, good guess though. And Thank you for the complement

**Spidey meets Mizard-Theif**-Nothing bad happens to either Bakura or Yami... in this story.

**Tie-dyed Trickster**-Yeah. Bakura does seem like he'd be compatable with almost any character in the story that way. Actually, what I did to Kefa in 'Angel Wings' was a little cruel. And don't worry. I plan to update it... soon... I hope... I'm an easily distracted person. His wings aren't silver, they're just snow white. I'm glad you like that story so much... um... yeah... I'll... I'll update it soon.

**Kate Ryou**-Thanks.

**Chapter 7**

Kaiba gasped for air. He could feel water rushing into his lung. He was going to drown!

OOOOO

"I think he went this way" Pharaoh called. He'd taken over Yugi's body to help chase Kaiba but it had turned into a guessing game as to where the teen in denial had gone.

"Why would he go that way? Obviously he went home"

"Kaiba ran home? Not likely. That would come off to him like hiding from an unseen enemy. Remember the rare hunters? Kaiba took them on by standing out in the open"

"But he did run away"

"How did he know we were watching"

"Kaiba has a mark" Pharaoh explained, feeling the need to reenter the conversation "And the mark is somehow linked to light. So it reacts to darkness. Yami decided to get a kick out of this and revealed to Kaiba that we were hiding around him. Remember the flashes of light from his hand? That was the mark reacting to the magic of the millennium ring"

"Yeah…" Tea said thoughtfully "Each time it flashed he looked around like he was trying to find one of us, then the final time was when he ran away"

"I'm sorry" Bakura mumbled, staring at his shoes "It's my fault. I made a deal with Yami that he could come with me if he helped me get away from my dad. If I were a little more creative with escaping… or just hadn't come at all…"

"Don't beat yourself up. Yami does that for you" Joey told him "Speaking of Yami, he's good at this stuff right? Let him look for Kaiba?"

"I'll… ask him" Bakura muttered.

He was silent for a moment, then the ring flashed and Yami was in control. "This way" the spirit hissed before taking off towards the pier "Hurry!"

The others had to work to keep up with him. It would take some time to figure out how Yami could run so fast in a body Bakura made look so physically inept.

OOOOO

His throat was felt raw and every part of his body ached. Kaiba was afraid opened his eyes. Finally he forced himself too. At first he wondered if this was the 'after-life' he'd heard of so many forms of in each religion.

A quick look around made him feel embarrassed for such a foolish notion. No after-life could look like this. This looked more like the inside of some sort of submarine.

No… it was to dark.

He hissed as a searing pain shot up his arm. The mark was glowing far too brightly. He could feel some foreign strength inside him eager to push back the darkness of the submarine. But who knew how deep it was? He could destroy it then drown miles below the surface of the water.

The pain came back again. Like it was coming in waves. As he examined the darkness he realize that it got lighter and darker as if someone was pulling the light from the room he was in, then as the light came back in they pulled it out again, like a wave crashing against the shore.

He didn't care if he drown. Drowning had to be less painful than the burning feeling in his arm.

He didn't know what to do though. The energy inside him wanted to drive away the darkness, and so did he, but he didn't know how to harness the energy. Finally it occurred to him to try to use the mark. Hesitantly, he held his hand up. Nothing happened. He closed his eyes and focused. The light was their, strong, yet weak. Insignificant. He grabbed the light. Drawing it towards the mark. Ready to give this a try he opened his eyes-just in time for a far too bright flash of light to fill the room. He heard something scream from beyond the walls. The room was no longer dark, but he know longer felt like he had the strength to do anything.

He'd filled the room with light, light that would stay, but everything went dark a second later…

OOOOO

After chasing Yami halfway across the city everyone was a little surprised when he suddenly stopped "The pier?" Joey shuddered with the bad memories of his last visit to the place "Admit it. You had just as little idea as to where he was. By the time we find Kaiba, it'll be morning"

"He's here" Yami growled "I can sense it"

"Sense it?" Pharaoh asked incredulously.

"Think about it" Yugi appeared in spiritual form "The mark on Kaiba's hand has some sort of light energy that reacts to darkness. Dark energy, especially from something like a ring that can locate millennium items, must react to the light energy from Kaiba"

"Smart boy" Yami muttered. He walked up to the edge of the dock "He's down here"

"He drown?"

"No. He's just down there. Something else is with him. Something pulled him down. Something else is keeping him safe. He appears to be trapped in an illusion" A bright flash of light broke free of the water, shooting up like a pillar into the night sky "Ah. He broke out. **Now** he's drowning. Someone might want to go down there now to get him. Otherwise he won't last much longer"

Everyone exchanged glances

"Maybe you didn't hear me. He won't last much longer" This was followed by a variety of fingers pointing towards anyone who the pointer thought would be a good swimmer. No one held the same opinion, however and in the end everyone was pointing at someone different "Never mind" Yami hissed before diving in himself.

The water was beyond cold. It was always cold, but with no sun to warm it the North Pole had to be warmer. Yami found this slightly amusing. Who knew he'd ever wish the sun was up?

Kaiba wasn't to far down. A strange, glowing substance seemed to stick to bits of black… black… Yami decided it must have been an oversized squid. Seemed a bit unrealistic but why should he care?

Kaiba was completely unconscious. If the light hadn't just come out of the water (man that sounded stupid) he would have assumed the freezing temperature had gotten to the boy, but realistically, in an unrealistic way, using magic had drained him of what energy he had left after working all day then running half way across town during the middle of the night. Stupid kid.

There was a short applause followed by someone, probably Joey, saying "He died, right?"

Kaiba moaned and opened his eyes just a crack. "He appears to be alive" Yami said half heartedly, almost as if he'd shared Joey's hopes.

"Here" Pharaoh held a hand out. Yami slapped it before offering Kaiba up to Pharaoh. The spirit of the puzzle growled but helped drag the teenage CEO out of the water.

Yami climbed out on his own. He shook a good deal of water out of his hair the same way one would expect a dog to, then returned to the ring before anyone could complain, leaving Bakura too look around sheepishly and wonder what his darker half had done to make everyone mad "Sorry"

"It's not your fault" Pharaoh muttered, ringing out his hair.

"Kaiba's safe. Can we go home?" Joey asked

"No" Pharaoh frown and looked into the water "Something pulled Kaiba down there, remember? He's a target now. We'll need to keep a close eye on him. A very close eye"

**Isaya831: Oh KAIIIIIIIIIIIBAAAAAAAAAAA**

**Kaiba: Oh god, help me**

**Isaya831:I've just figured out what to do to you that, while insignificant to others, will be a huge headache for you. Don't you just love me?**

**Kaiba: Depends. Is love the urge to beat a person with a frying pan?**

**Isaya831: -.- no. Good guess though.**

**Kaiba: Thanks. I'm gonna go beat myself with a frying pan before I can find out what your latest torture device is.**

**Isaya831: On the bright side, it can't be worse than what I just did to Kefa.**

**Kaiba: …what?**

**Isaya831: I made him listen to 'Barbie Girl'**

**Kaiba: O.o You're… You're…. EVIL!!! **_**Runs away**_

**Isaya831: It's so great, controlling the fate of fictional characters in my mind… wow. I'm pathetic!**


	8. Chapter 8

**The Duelist's Heiress**-No more pathetic than everyone else here, at least. No. No crystal shards. Sorry.

**Spidey meets Wizard-Theif**-Um... okey-dokey.

**Chapter 8**

Dark.

Kaiba knew it would be brighter if he opened his eyes, but he refused to. He welcomed the dark this time. He didn't **want** to see. See… sea… Had he really drown? No… that submarine and… squid? No… light waves which meant…

Finally he was confused enough to forget about wanting to keep his eyes shut. Now he was in a hotel room. He forced himself to sit up and pressed a hand against his forehead to try to relieve the pain of a headache his jumbled up thinking had caused.

He was surprised to find his hair damp.

Someone tapped his shoulder. He glanced up at them. It was Bakura 'Sorry. I couldn't stop them' Behind Bakura was Yugi, who must not have heard what Bakura said. Kaiba couldn't quite figure out why. He'd ask Bakura later.

"Where are we?"

'A hotel in Tokyo' Bakura looked a little sheepish.

He turned around and said something to Yugi and the shorter boy came up to explain. 'Something attacked you at the pier. Yami described it as a…giant squid' he looked at Bakura, who nodded, then looked back to Kaiba 'But apparently not a kraken or anything. Then it would be too large to fit into the areas we found the bits of its body at. Kaiba, listen, I know you don't believe in magic but this is serious. That mark on your hand has made you the target of some dark force. We can't leave you alone. You don't know how to control that power without passing out and-' Kaiba shut his eyes and counted to ten under his breath before opening them again '-So we're keeping you with us until we're sure its safe for you again'

"You're detaining me in a hotel room?"

'No. Well, yes. But only until tomorrow, then we're flying to China. We think it's best to get you as far from-' Kaiba decided to examine his surroundings rather than continue to pay attention to Yugi's obnoxious babble. Business meetings were more interesting. Business meetings weren't to interesting though.

It took Yugi a minute to realize Kaiba wasn't listening to him. Upon this realization He asked Kaiba to pay attention, then ordered, the Pharaoh ordered, then a fight ensued in which Yugi and Pharaoh did a lot of yelling while Kaiba looked out the window in boredom, still not paying any attention to them at all. Finally the man in the next room screamed for them to shut up and Yugi and Pharaoh gave up.

OOOOO

"Kaiba, I know you don't want me to sound like Mokuba but you need to be more careful. If Yugi hadn't been so insistent on finding you, you would have drown"

"You're right, you do sound a lot like Mokuba and I don't like it. Actually, all you need to do is call me Seto and there'd be no difference between what you and he say"

"Please actually listen"

"Can't" Kaiba looked away, no longer willing to participate in the conversation.

Bakura grabbed his chin and forced Kaiba to look him in the eye "Pay attention. No one else here knows about your little 'disability' and Yugi and Pharaoh neglected to tell you a lot of their plans-plans you neglected to hear-so let me fill you in. They're using your attack as an excuse to bring you with them for there latest 'adventure'. You're in the center of all this. You're in a** lot** of danger. I know you don't like people thinking your weak but since I'm the only one who knows what's wrong with you you'll need my help"

Kaiba swatted Bakura's hand away "I don't know why I told you in the first place"

OOOOO

Kaiba wondered why he hadn't really resisted going to China. He blamed the talk with Bakura. Not just because he wanted to go against anyone who was acting over protective of him. He was curios. If he was in the middle of Yugi's latest adventure then did that mean it had to do with his mark? That Crystal he'd read about? He wanted to know.

He thought this over again and again as he watched clouds pass beneath him. It occurred to him that someone might have tried to talk to him at various points. Bakura was the only person on the plane who knew how to make sure he was following the conversation. Anyone else on the plane could have been ignored by accident.

No big deal. He'd just say he ignored them on purpose once he got off the plane. His disability wasn't that bad.

OOOOO

Tea felt unfortunate to sit next to Kaiba. He didn't seem interested at all in conversing.

His cell phone rang but he didn't answer. The caller must have given up, it stopped ringing.

5 minutes later it rang again. This time Tea picked it up and answered for Kaiba "Hello?"

"I think I got the wrong number" She heard Mokuba say over the phone.

"Tried to call your brother? This is his phone"

"Who is this"

"Tea"

"Why do you have Seto's phone?"

"He wouldn't answer it. I answered for him. What do you want to talk about?"

Tea heard Mokuba mumble something about how stupid he (Mokuba) was, and how he should have known better "You're with Kaiba?"

"Yes"

"Where?"

"On a plane"

"Why?"

"Because Yugi wanted to go to China and we all came with him"

"Even Kaiba?" Mokuba sounded shocked

"He didn't put up a fight when we told him he had to come. He must have been curious"

"O-oh" There was an awkward silence "Well… um… okay. Thanks" he hung up.

Tea set the phone down next to Kaiba, where it had been. That was odd. Why would Mokuba have been a moron for trying to call his older brother?

Mokuba probably hadn't meant for her to hear him verbally bash himself. She probably shouldn't get to far in to other peoples business, but then again, this was a good opportunity. It may be directly related to Kaiba's behavior.

**Isaya831: And so Detective Tea was born.**

**Kaiba: Tea?**

**Isaya831: **_**To fans**_** You don't get to know what's wrong with Kaiba until Tea figures it out (That's right, I don't think she's a brainless idiot) so cross your fingers and hope she's smarter than all the 'Anzu bashers' out there make her seem.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Spidey meets Wizard-Theif**-MWAHAHAHAHA

**The Duelist's Heiress**-I'm glad you support her.

**Chapter 9**

The first thing Kaiba had done as they stepped out of the airport in China was search for a hidden camera. He was positive that, being in a populated Chinese city, there had to be at least one on every street. He'd never been to China before (another curiosity that had lead him to so willingly come along). He'd always been concerned that China's government would listen in on what he had to say. Any meeting held with a company from this country happened on his territory.

He managed to spot one, and a person who he believed was studying all of them. Oh joy.

He already hated the place.

He followed everyone around for a while before loosing interest and wandering off. He'd already swiped the hotel address from Yugi, so he knew where to go. What could happen while he was on his own?

He thought over this and decided that if anything **did** happened it at least wouldn't be boring.

However, nothing happened. Kaiba actually stood around at one point waiting to fail to notice someone trying to attack him until it was too late.

Bored out of his skull, he went to the hotel.

The extremely Asian looking woman at the front desk made him wonder why no Japanese he knew looked even slightly Asian (Isaya831: Seriously. Not one). Getting the card key for the one of the rooms Yugi had reserved Kaiba wandered around the hotel before checking on the rooms where the 'gang' was staying.

No one was there. After another half an hour of no one coming in Kaiba assumed that he'd taken the only copy of the hotel's address that the had. He sat down on one of the beds and worked on his laptop for the next two hours, looking up every couple of minutes to see if anyone had come in, before the others finally arrived. Yugi had chosen to stay in the same room as him.

Rats.

'We spent three hours looking for you. You were here the whole time?'

"No. I wandered around for the first half an hour" Kaiba said before going back to his work, completely shutting off the rest of the world.

Bakura must have volunteered to stay in his room too, because the white haired boy took his laptop away to get his attention "What?"

'Everyone was worried about you. You've been getting in enough trouble as it is. Obviously, whoever we're up against, you're their prime target. What if they'd found you?'

"They didn't, so it doesn't matter" Kaiba said, taking his laptop back "and either way I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself. You're really starting to sound like Mokuba"

'At least Mokuba is a little more realistic about-' Ryou paused mid-sentence and glanced at Yugi 'this.'

Kaiba snorted and went back to work.

OOOOO

"Bakura, do you know something about Kaiba?"

"Huh?" Bakura asked innocently, using one of his 'Yami hurt me but I can get around it if you help' smiles that always got him what he wanted if he was talking to Yugi and his friends "Is there something wrong with him?"

"The… unresponsiveness"

"No" Bakura kept up the smile "I don't know anything about that. It's probably just a phase"

Yugi didn't look entirely convinced but… that smile… "Okay. I just thought…. Because of how you talked to him earlier… but never mind"

Yugi shrugged and left. Tea came up to Bakura "But really, what's up with him?"

"Nothing that I know of" Bakura lied, before turning and leaving too.

Tea frown, ten times as unconvinced as Yugi had been, and pulled out her cell phone.

**Isaya831: OMGOMGOMG I am SOSOSOSOSOSOSO SORRY for not updating for this long (though I think I've gone longer) Please don't kill me!**


	10. Chapter 10

**ml101-**The golden question.

**Nutt-Beam-**Autistic? I know someone who kind of has that problem (not really, but we were worried he might have) so I wonder why I never thought to use that... no. Kaiba isn't autistic, but he is pretty anti-social

**Spidey meets Wizard-Theif-**OMG! you didn't say awesome

**The Duelist's Heiress-**Thanks.

**Chapter 10**

"Hello? This is Mokuba Kaiba"

"Hey, Mokuba, this is Tea"

"Hi" Mokuba's voice got twice as cheerful "What do you want?"

"While we were on the plane you said something about it being a bad idea to call your brother. Why is that?"

"Tea, I never said anything like that"

"Yes you-"

"Hang on" Mokuba interrupted. Tea waited a second before Mokuba spoke up again "I'm sorry, there's a problem in Seto's lab. I need to check it out"

Tea scowled as he hung up. He wasn't fooling her…

She tried the number for Kaiba's work phone, something she'd gotten from Mokuba a few weeks back, and put the phone to her ear again.

"Hello, this is Cindy Nawai at Kaiba Corp. Mr. Kaiba isn't here right now. How may I help you?"

"Well, Kaiba-"

"Mr. Kaiba isn't here right now" Cindy repeated "Which is quite a problem. He's missing so many meetings. I don't know why he refuses to see more than one person at a time now, but he does. It's such a hassle scheduling everything. Oh… let's see here… Mr. Kaiba was supposed to be open next Tuesday, but now you probably wont get to see him for about six to seven weeks. Can you wait that long, or is this urgent?"

"Um… I can… er…" Tea was at a loss for words

"Go on, dear"

"I'll just call back later" Tea hung up quickly

"Joey!" Joey came "Want to help me figure-why am I asking you?" Tea shook her head and left, Leaving Joey wondering why he'd been summoned.

Tea found Yugi next "Hey Yugi"

"Hi, Tea"

"About Kaiba…" Tea said "I just called his company. Apparently he's now only seeing one person at a time. Isn't that weird?" Yugi nodded "And Mokuba said that calling Kaiba was pointless. What do you think is up with him (is he loosing it?)"

"Kaiba's probably just going through a faze" Yugi said after thinking a minute "He'll be back to normal in a few weeks. In the mean time, the symbol on his palm is glowing. Come on, Tea, we're going to find the next shard of the crystal!"

**Isaya831: **_**sigh**_** I'm so forgetful. I have other online stuff I update too, so I keep forgetting to update the stories I have on this site. I'M SO SORRY!**

**Kaiba: huh?**


	11. Chapter 11

**The Duelist's Heiress**-I suppose. Did you expect this?

**Spidey meets Wizard-Theif**-Well, I suppose that makes up for any review. I don't try to make the chapters short. I just don't try to make them long either. I think I've said this somewhere else, but I've got a lot of stuff to keep track of and this account is something I tend to forget about

**Chapter 11**

"I think he's lost"

If Kaiba heard Joey say this he took no offence to it. A possible reason for this was because he had no clue where he was. All he knew was that whatever direction he was heading his hand got warmer as he went that way.

"Kaiba? Hey Money bags!" Kaiba didn't respond. Finally, Joey came up and hit him on the back of the head.

Kaiba turned around and glared, resisting the urge to ask what that was for "Do you **want** something?"

"Where are we?" Joey demanded

Kaiba looked down at Joey for a second before turning and heading in the direction that the shard of the crystal inside him was telling him to go "I have no idea"

Joey grumbled to himself, only continuing to follow Kaiba because everyone else did.

"He wouldn't be able to locate where the shard is on a map" Yugi explained after several minutes of non stop complaints from Joey "He just senses the direction it's in, and he's following that"

"How does he sense it?"

"I don't know. He just does"

"I think that…" Ryou interrupted "The white crystal warms up the closer it gets to other shards, while the black crystal cools down. So then Kaiba's would be basing this on temperature. But there's also a possibility that he can see the area around him as a sort of 3D grid, and he sees where we are on it, and where the crystal is, just not anything in between"

"Care to run that by me again?" Joey asked.

"Don't" Tristan said before Ryou could repeat himself "If he didn't get it the first time he won't get it this time"

Kaiba stopped right then. Not because Joey and Tristan were to busy fighting to follow him. He looked around then turned to Yugi, puzzled "It started moving on it's own"

Yugi scowled "What direction?"

Kaiba pointed east "That way"

Ryou sighed "There's a good chance that someone might have picked it up without thinking. I mean, Kaiba did that, didn't he?"

"Ryou, if someone else picked up a shard, wouldn't they fuse with it the way Kaiba did?" Yugi asked

"Ah… I don't know" Ryou began to fret "The book is mainly dusty legends and theories. I couldn't be too sure about any of it… but I think that the crystal can only fuse with one person"

"And Kaiba just happens to be that one? I thought it broke a good long time ago. Why wouldn't anyone else have found it?" Yugi asked.

Tea watched as Kaiba looked back and forth, intently watching whoever was speaking

"Maybe someone did, then died"

"Died?" Yugi looked horrified

"Well, It was a popular idea in all the theories that included fusing with the crystal that neither crystal is capable of fusing-or remaining fused-with someone who's no longer alive. Some of the theories even went as far as to say it was the only way to extract the crystals from someone's body"

"If those theories aren't wrong" Kaiba said slowly "When I die… I'm taking both of you down with me. Especially you, Yugi"

"What? Why me?"

"You're the one who threw the shard back at me before it vanished into my hand. If you hadn't done that I wouldn't have to put up with **any** of this garbage. I could be back at home enjoying you being in China and to far away to bug me!"

"KAIBA!" there was a wave of gasps as Bakura shoved him over "How **dare** you!" he hissed before turning and walking away.

"Bakura, where are you going!" Yugi cried.

"Back to the hotel" Bakura muttered. If Kaiba got in trouble while he was gone, too bad. That's what he got for keeping his condition a secret. The idea of telling everyone was tempting, but they'd likely figure it out on their own if he wasn't around to help cover up, so why not leave him in harms way instead? "Don't follow me"

**Isaya831: bleh. I'm gonna stop here. If you need me I'll be playing with RPG Maker…**


	12. Sorry

I regret to inform you that this story is being abandon.

If one of you wants to take it up (doubt it) e-mail me at aavarinprincessyahoo(dot)com.

(I'm not sure if they let us put up links or not so…)

Right… sorry, bout this. Really, I'm against abandoning stories, but I thought about it and it kills me to write these chapters and the way I was going the story was going to be so long so… yeah.

Sorry.


End file.
